Automobile door hinge



y 3, 1955 A. JOHNSON 2,707,302

AUTOMOBILE DOQR HINGE Filed June 11. 1949 JIWeIIZF/ United States Patent AUTOMOBILE DOOR HINGE Agnar Johnson, Rockford, Ill., assignor to Atwood Vacuum Machine Company, Rockford, Ill., :1 corporation of Illinois Application June 11, 1949, Serial No. 98,575

1 Claim. (Cl. 16-146) This invention relates to improvements in automobile door hinges, and is more particularly concerned with the provision of a novel form of hold-open device designed to prevent accidental closing of the door once it has been fully opened, and designed to serve also as an assist, both in opening and closing, to insure movement to one or the other extreme after the door passes the mid-point, and to serve further as a positive stop to limit door opening movement.

Various designs of hold-open devices have been proposed, but many are too complicated and expensive in construction and also are not practical for various reasons. It is, therefore, the principal object of my invention to provide a hold-open device of simpler and less expensive construction, and one which is thoroughly practical and serviceable and is not apt to require any attention.

In accordance with my invention, an arm, which. may be punched from sheet metal at low cost, is pivotally mounted on a rivet on one of the horizontal walls of the sheet metal cage of a concealed hinge, and has a tension spring connecting the outer end thereof to the cage to urge the arm normally in one direction into abutment with a pin projection on the edge portion of the gooseneck-shaped inner member of the hinge, so that the arm is oscillated in a certain predetermined relationship to the opening of the door and, by reason of the spring pressure thereon, will exert a predetermined frictional resistance to the closing of the door when fully opened and thereby prevent accidental closing. The spring action also assists both the closing and opening of the door once the door has been moved past a mid-position in the direction of closing or opening. A half-round notch is preferably provided in the arm next to an offset at the pivoted end, into which notch the pin projection on the inner hinge member is arranged to ride when the door reaches the fully opened position, whereby to provide a positive stop for limiting door opening movement and aiford a much more appreciable resistance to closing movement only at that extreme position than in any other portion of the first half of the door closing movement, the resistance to closing decreasing gradually as the door approaches the mid-position.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which--- Fig. 1 is a plan view of an automobile door hinge embodying a hold-open device made in accordance with my invention, the gooseneck-shaped inner hinge member being shown in a position corresponding to the fully opened position of the door;

Fig. 2 is a side view of Fig. l to better illustrate the construction;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing the parts in the other extreme position, corresponding to the closed position of the door, and

Fig. 4 is a side view of Fig. 3.

The same reference numerals are applied to corresponding parts throughout the views.

Referring to the drawing, the automobile door hinge shown is of the well known concealed type, similar, for example, to that shown in the Harmon et a1. Patent 2,322,933, issued June 29, 1943. It comprises an outer sheet metal cage member 5 adapted to be mounted by means of its attaching flanges 6 and attaching plate 7 on the door pillar on the body, and a goose-neck-shaped inner member 8 mounted on the door by means of its attaching end portion 9. The outer cage member 5 is formed from sheet metal to a generally U-shaped crosssection so as to provide opposed, substantially parallel, horizontally extending walls 10 and 11, connected by a substantially vertical wall 12. The horizontal walls 10 and 11 have embossed portions 13 forming supports for the pintle 14, which is received in a bearing hole 15 provided therefor in the enlarged end portion 16 of the inner hinge member 8. The face plate '7 previously mentioned is suitably welded to the attaching flange portions 6 and is cut away, as indicated at 17, to provide operating clearance for the inner hinge member 8. Lugs 18 are shown projecting toward one another from the edges of the top and bottom walls 10 and 11 of the outer hinge member, and these lugs are welded to a crossmember 19, which serves as a brace for the outer hinge member.

In accordance with my invention, a hook member 32., which can be punched from sheet metal at low cost, but is preferably hardened by heat treatment to reduce wear to a minimum, is disposed in the space between the upper wall 10 of the outer hinge member and the upper edge of the inner hinge member 8, as clearly appears in Figs. 2 and 4, and is pivoted at one end on a rivet 21 entered through registering holes 22 and 23 provided in the hook member 32 and upper wall 10, respectively. The hook member 32 is provided with an arm portion 2t) projecting outwardly from the free end thereof and a coiled tension spring 24, which is attached at one end 25 to the cage 5 and at its other end 26 in a hole 27 in the free end of the arm 20, is provided to urge the portion of the hook member 32 to move always in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in Figs. 1 and 3, into abutment with a pin 28 projecting from the edge of the inner hinge member 8, so that the hook member 32 and its arm portion 20 gives a hold-open action, as well as an assist action, in both directions. The smooth straight. edge 29 on arm portion 20 affords a track or cam surface on which the pin 28, which is suitably driven into a hole 30 in hinge member 8, is arranged to slide from one end toward the other each time the door is swung through its approximately ninety degree range of movement in one direction or the other. Thus, pin 28 is at the outer end of the arm portion 20 when the door is closed, as shown in Fig. 3, and is at the inner end of the arm portion 20 when the door is fully opened, as shown in Fig. l. The hook member 32, as clearly appears in Figs. 1 and 3, has a half-round notch 31 provided therein to constitute the hook proper and which is, adapted to receive the pin 28 when the door is fully opened, as in Fig. 1 thus releasably locking the inner hinge member in the open position of the door.

In operation, it should be clear that the spring 24 is stretched more and more while the pin 28 moves from either end of track 29 on arm portion 20 toward the mid-point and that the spring contracts again while the pin moves from the mid-point of track 29 toward either end. Therefore, bearing in mind that the spring 24 works through minimum leverage at the commencement of door opening movement, the arm portion 20 resists rather lightly the opening movement of the door up to the mid-point, but from that point on assists the opening movement with gradually increasing force, as should be clear from a study of Fig. 3, where the hinge is shown in the closed position, namely, at what corresponds to the commencement of door opening movement. The spring 24 acts through maximum leverage when the door is fully opened, as the hinge is shown in Fig. 1, and, hence, an appreciable assist action is obtained and one which is easily noticeable to anyone operating the door. By the same token, it follows that an equally good holdopen action is obtained with arm portion 20 and spring 24 cooperating with pin 28. A more positive hold-open action is obtained by virtue of the provision of the hook member 32 with its notch 31 at the inner end of track 29, into which the pin 28 will ride at the limit of door opening movement, as seen in Fig. l. The shoulder afforded by the outer side of this notch 31 is enough to lock the door releasably in the fully opened position, so that even heavy wind pressure usually will not be enough to aifect the doors position and cause accidental closing; it is necessary to apply a definite pull or push on the door to start closing it. The hook member 32 also acts as 1' a positive stop to limit door opening movement, and that occurs at the point where the pin 28 drops into notch 31. In the first forty-five degrees (45) of closing movement of the door, the arm portion resists the movement, but with less and less force, and thereafter, because the pin 28 has passed the mid-point of track 29 in traveling toward the outer end of arm portion 20, the arm portion 20 gives an assist action to help door closing movement.

It is believed the foregoing description conveys a good ii" understanding of the objects and advantages of my invention. The appended claim has been drawn to cover all legitimate modifications and adaptations.

I claim:

In combination, a hinge comprising a generally U- ing substantially parallel top and bottom edges, there :3

being a space left between one of said edges of said inner hinge member and an adjacent arm of said outer hinge member, said inner hinge member being movable from one extreme position to another through an angle of approximately a hook member disposed in said space, said hook member being notched at one end and pivoted at the other end on one arm of said outer hinge member for oscillation in a plane approximately parallel to the aforesaid edge of said inner hinge member and the adjacent arm of said outer hinge member, said hook member including an arm portion projecting outwardly from the notched end thereof, said gooseneck portion of said inner hinge member including a projection slidably engaging one edge of the arm portion of said hook member and being movable along said edge as said inner hinge member is moved about its pivot from one extreme to the other in its range of movement, said projection being engaged with the notched portion of said hook member at one extreme position of said inner hinge member thereby to releasably lock said inner hinge member in said extreme position, and spring means urging the arm portion of said hook member into engagement with said projection on said inner hinge member, said spring means exerting an assisting force in moving said inner hinge member in either direction from an intermediate position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 991,926 Rodenback May 2, 1911 1,358,099 Northcott Nov. 9, 1920 1,694,764 Beringer Dec. 11, 1928 1,776,346 Bufiington Sept. 23, 1930 1,853,658 Briskin Apr. 12, 1932 2,185,212 Claud-Mantle Ian. 2, 1940 2,335,201 Ulrich Nov. 23, 1943 2,553,185 Gessler May 1, 1951 

